The Janus Look 5

A week has passed since I was told that my colon has followed my face in having two distinct aspects.  My face is a bit better this week. A few more grey pearlies to show the dentist. 

But as you might suspect, my face isn’t my main concern at the moment. As things were left last week, the consultant was planning to have a medical group discussion about me this morning to discuss my diagnosis and probable treatment.  I can feel my ears burning - or maybe that is itching.  Before the meeting, he needed to have the results of the biopsies, and the CT scan which I had yesterday.  

On Monday morning my special colon cancer nurse called me to introduce herself and answer any  questions. I had a big question. I had been told to go back on my iron tablets - as I had to stay away from them for a week before the colonoscopy.  But my daughter read all the small print on the leaflet in the packet (I seldom do) and it said quite categorically not to take them if you had a stricture in your gut.  I do. So she agreed, skip the iron for the time being.  I do take a multivitamin which has some iron in it, so I decided to take those, but not the huge dose ones.  

I had been eating liver pate for lunch and beef for supper to increase my food iron levels, but my daughter looked it up and said pate only twice a week - or you could get Vitamin A overload.  

I ate and slept well all week, and feel a bit of a fraud thinking that I am ill at all. But I guess  the seriousness of the situation is not in dispute, so my feeling good is quite a blessing. 

Yesterday my daughter took me to the hospital for the CT  scan. I remembered having a scan in a huge machine that looked like a coffin about 15 years ago. At that time they were looking for a reason to give me a new knee.  My husband was very keen for me to have as much medical help as possible before he died, because he knew I wouldn’t make a fuss normally.  The scan was about half an hour long, and I had to lie flat without a pillow. The noise was huge and industrial, which they tried to cover up with Radio 2, but there was no contest really.  I have a hiatus hernia, which means that if I lie flat, the acid from my stomach sometimes backslides into my mouth - which is not a nice feeling.  Expecting a similar experience yesterday, I decided not to eat after lunch. The scan was at 6.45.  And I took a packet of Rennies with me, which I would ask if I could take.  Then I had a practice of lying on the bed without a pillow (normally I have two big ones). It took awhile for my back to adjust but I was quite proud that I managed to lie, completely without moving for 40 minutes or so.  So when we went to the appointment, I was confident I could cope. 

We got there early - which was good as it took us a while to find the building, which was in plain sight if we had gone in the front door. It is a brand new looking building, shaped like the machine.  You go into a room with a receptionist. Before long, the nurse called my name. How good to be early. I was expecting the whole thing to take about an hour. 

I had been told to drink a litre of water 90 minutes before the exam. That wasn’t a problem, but keeping away from the bathroom was. 

I asked if my daughter could come with me for the introductory part.  She asked why. I said it was because I often forget things, which was the right answer, as she was allowed in.  Then we were shown into a huge, warm, pretty suite containing all the works.  The machine looked like a doughnut - not a coffin. There was a bed waiting for me to lie on, and it had a pillow!!

I was asked to take off my jackets (3) as they all had front zips, but was allowed to keep wearing the rest of my clothes, unless they  had large metal bits in them. The studs on the pockets of my cords didn’t count. 

I lay on the bed, so relaxed now - and she asked me some questions. I found her accent a bit hard to understand so asked her to repeat a lot. And when she asked if I was on a particular medicine, I brought in my daughter to answer - showing how important it had been for her to be with me.  Questions over, my daughter left the room but sat just outside, and could hear all the conversations between me, the  technician and the machine.

The technician  put a thing into my arm which was going to deliver the dye.  Then the machine did a couple of back and forth goes for measurements, telling me when to hold my breath and when I could breathe again.   

I had to be positioned with my arms above my head, which seemed at first very awkward, but I soon relaxed into it.  Looking into the body of the machine, it looked sort of like the works of a toaster - lots of wires which lit up as they were being put into use.  Then she put the dye into my blood vessel, and the procedure was repeated. And then I was done. Five minutes rather than an hour.  What a nice machine. Thank you NHS.

She said I should contact them if I hadn’t had the results in a week and a half. But I am expecting them next week. Then I will be able to find out what the rest of my life is going to include.